spoon-feed
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
-
to feed with a spoon
-
to overindulge or spoil
-
to provide (a person) with ready-made opinions, judgments, etc, depriving him of original thought or action
Other Word Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
have spoon-fedperfect
-
has spoon-fedperfect 3rd person singular
-
am spoon-feedingprogressive 1st person singular
-
spoon-feedingparticiple
-
is spoon-feedingprogressive 3rd person singular
-
have been spoon-feedingperfect progressive
-
are spoon-feedingprogressive
-
spoon-feedssingular 3rd person
-
has been spoon-feedingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
Past
-
had spoon-fedperfect
-
had been spoon-feedingperfect progressive
-
spoon-fedsimple
-
spoon-fedparticiple
-
was spoon-feedingprogressive singular
-
were spoon-feedingprogressive plural
Future
Etymology
Origin of spoon-feed
First recorded in 1605–15
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
As usual, Wiseman doesn’t spoon-feed us details of who’s who and where’s where; he trusts us to get our bearings over an effortlessly engrossing four hours.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 29, 2023
"I wanted someone to spoon-feed me information in a format that was easy."
From BBC • Nov. 17, 2021
Her Little Sisters of the Sick Poor are prime examples, as the name suggests: They spoon-feed the toothless, comfort the grieving, scrub floors, clean wounds, change diapers, empty bedpans.
From New York Times • Sep. 12, 2021
The show’s smartest decision, other than Byrne’s casting, may be its tendency to evoke rather than spoon-feed.
From Washington Post • Jun. 17, 2021
We must spoon-feed it, and nice nights that will give me!
From Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 430 Volume 17, New Series, March 27, 1852 by Chambers, William
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
